Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Definition

Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a three-step process for making resource allocation decisions.

First, the organization’s objectives, sub-objectives, and strategies are organized hierarchically.

Next, the decision maker evaluates, in a pair-wise fashion, each of the elements in a particular stratum of the hierarchy with respect to its importance in accomplishing each of the elements of the next-higher stratum.

Finally, a model is applied to these pairwise judgments that produces a set of importance (or priority) weights for each element of each stratum in the hierarchy.